AD ATTACKS DEMAIO OVER POLICE WIDOW BENEFITS

TV spot accuses front-runner of ‘cheap political stunt’

An emotional television ad has launched for the last weekend of the San Diego mayor’s race, painting front-runner Carl DeMaio as an opportunist who is callous to the needs of the widows and orphans of fallen police officers.

Councilman DeMaio, long a pariah to public employee unions like the one behind the ad, strongly denied its claims and threatened on Thursday to sue TV stations that go on airing it. He said his signature pension overhaul measure includes similar benefits.

“As someone who lost my parents as a child, I believe we have a moral obligation to the families of our men and women in uniform who put their lives on the line,” DeMaio said.

The ad is sponsored by the San Diego Police Officers Association, which has endorsed Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher. It features Michelle Bennett, widow of Officer Terry Bennett.

“Carl DeMaio voted against health care benefits for widows and children of fallen officers,” says Bennett, accompanied by funeral bagpipes. “He put a cheap political stunt ahead of our welfare.”

The ad refers to a June 27 vote at which the City Council was enacting elements of a comprehensive deal between employees and the city regarding retiree health benefits. The benefits were in the 2010 labor pact with police officers, but the action was to add them to the municipal code.

Before the vote, human resources Director Scott Chadwick clarified that one amendment was to add health benefits for surviving spouses or dependents of an officer killed in the line of duty.

DeMaio opposed the overall health benefits deal because he thought the city was giving benefits to employees that were not legally required.

DeMaio’s campaign says he voted no on the June 27 action because of his opposition to the overall agreement with employees. DeMaio said Friday he does not oppose the benefits to widows and children added in the agreement.

“I never voted for any cuts to survivor benefits, and specifically included a mandate for those benefits in Prop. B because these families deserve the assurance that we will always be there to support them,” DeMaio said.

Proposition B, a pension overhaul ballot measure co-authored by DeMaio, generally gives a 401(k)-style retirement to new city hires, as opposed to a pension. Police officers are exempt.

DeMaio’s campaign pointed to a provision that says, “For Uniformed Public Safety Officers, the City shall provide death and disability benefits for officers who are killed or injured in the line of duty. The City may provide greater death or disability benefits than those required by law applicable to Charter Cities.”

The Prop. B language is not as specific as that contained in the June 27 vote DeMaio opposed, which said, “The City will pay for the highest cost HMO health plan for the surviving spouse and eligible dependents for any officer killed in the line of duty by external violence or physical force, or as a result of an accident or injury caused by external violence or physical force and suffered in the line of duty.”